As much as we complain about customer service reps, it’s wise to remember that they hold the advantage when it comes to your account. We don’t know whether our reader Chris was too rude to his outsourced call-center buddy or whether the CSR was just having a really bad day, but apparently things got out of hand when Chris called in to find out what was going on with his credit card account.
When I asked for more details, the representative (who sounded like he was from India), took vengeance on my account and told me he was closing the account and that there was nothing I could do. When I asked for his manager, he said “There is nothing he can do, the account is closed.” —CLICK— And that was the sound of him hanging up the telephone.
Chris says the CSR didn’t even read him any account closure notice first.
All Chris was trying to do was find out why his account still showed $0.00 available credit when he’d recently paid off his balance in full—and why he can’t get a credit line increase when he’s had an excellent history of repayment.
I waited until about 8:40 AM to check the online account status and noticed that the available credit was still $0.00, despite what the representatives have told me. Frustrated with the vitriolic representative and the available credit still $0.00, I called the Capital One corporate offices and spoke with the executive resolution team and had them remove the account closure notice. I was also informed that the reason that I still had an available credit of $0.00 was that there was a “ten-day hold on the funds.” Angered that the funds had already been withdrawn from my bank account and not disbursed into my account, the executive team was able to override the hold and disburse the funds into the account, but only after calling the executive team a second time as the first person would not do it.
Chris points out that he’s been an “excellent” customer for Capital One, particularly because he pays off his balance in full every month. We hate to dampen your spirits, Chris, but that may not put you in the prime customer category—credit card companies love people who carry high balances and generate lots of revenue in interest rates and assorted late/overlimit/cash advance fees. You might be better off just looking for another offer elsewhere that promises you a greater limit up front.
(Photo: Getty)
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@RandomZero: There is nothing wrong with out-sourcing per se. As long as it isn’t your core competency, business out-source all kinds of things. After all, I’m an IT Consultant – basically out-sourced IT support. However, if you out-source, make sure you are not doing a dis-service to your customers in the process.
“First, what is an “American-sounding” name? This annoys me every time I see it.” Entomology. Cooper is an English name (historically, someone who makes barrels). Nygyen is not an English name. Most people have names reflecting where they were born, and often, reflective their native language/accents/dialects. FOr instance, Cletus, while English, is not something you would expect as a name from someone with a strong Bronx accent, either. When Apu says his name is Steve, and I can barely understand his pronunciation of “Steve”, I get incredulous.
@Orv: I went looking for guidance on how American financial organizations are legally compelled to protect information, regardless of the country it’s sent to, but all I could find was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Does anyone know of more recent consumer protection legislation (similar to Canada’s PIPEDA)?
@fullofIT: Incorrect. There’s a Capital One call centre in southwestern Ontario that takes American calls.
If you charge $500 per year and pay your balance off every month, Capital One breaks even on you. The real money losers are people who have an account and never use it or the people who default.
I was a Capital One customer and while I am a student, I have excellent credit on any level. So, I pay off my balances, have a loan that is ALWAYS paid in full, and have had my card for 3 years. I called Sunday to see if they could increase my credit line and the lady I talked to PRETENDED to look an see if they could then said, “no, we can’t. We’re a conservative lender… blah blah blah”. She wasn’t really rude, I just was pissed off that I couldn’t be approved for an increase to a 1k limit! I now have applied with HSBC for a credit limit even HIGHER than that. It’s just plain BS, you know?
The lady did say that I would have a better chance being pre-approved for another card with Capital One. I told her that if I couldn’t get approved with this account, I could and WOULD not open up another line of credit through them.
@colorisnteverything: HSBC refuses to up my limit on my Orchard Bank card above $750. Everyone else is giving me $5000 limits. I want it on the HSBC card because its a rewards card.
Half the time I have to call Capital One to get them to lift the hold they put on my money for no good reason. After hitting 0 twice on the main menu to get a person (the fraud option on the menu is not what I need), I ask for their fraud department, which, by the way, is US-based.
After I get off hold, I ask them to lift it. Since my account is new (less than a year old), they have to put me through to a senior rep to do it. In the past, it’s just a matter of going “Oh okay, the hold is lifted, blahddy blahddy” but the last time the girl had to call my bank and make sure the funds were there. (I could show them on the bloody web banking thing that the funds were gone, rawr)
So yeah, it’s a hassle and a half, which may or may not be a situation I created, because I make several smaller payments as I get paid as opposed to one larger one at the end of the month. It’s my way of making sure I don’t get a neg balance.
But I really don’t have anywhere else to go, because no one else will give me credit. (22 y.o. female college student without loans on their first credit line, was just boosted to $500) I can’t even get overdraft protection on my checking account or any kind of financing through Dell, Radio Shack, Circuit City, and the like. Which is my biggest problem with getting my new laptop. I can only coddle my Dell 700m (512 RAM 40 HD) from 2003 for so long.
And yes, I am fond of parentheses.
@purplefix, consider a secured credit card, or going through a credit union.
I see nothing wrong with this.
Would you spend more time with a customer who is just browsing your store not making you money, or a person who seems eager to buy high priced items, asks lots of questions like on how to care for such item if he/she buys it, etc.
If you say the person who is browsing you are a bad store owner.
@glorpy: There is no such thing as “enough money” for these folks.
Credit Card companies hate people who pay off balances every month.
They want nothing to do with the rich or with smart middle class folks. They make the most money off of poor people who screw up and eat penalty fees, followed by people who carry big balances.
@RandomZero:Ah no. I had the misfortune of dealing with an Indian call center and their English I understood. My English is a mixture of Mid Atlantic, Southern, and Mid Western dialects. The did not understand me. Funny that I used to work in a NOC and all my fellow Americans and most Canadians could understand me. New policy, don’t deal with furriners….